Michèle Montas

Michèle Montas (born 1946) is a journalist from Haiti and the former Spokesperson under UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (January 1, 2007 - January 1, 2010).[1] Prior to her appointment, Montas headed the French unit of UN Radio. From 2003 to 2004, she served as the Spokesperson for UN General Assembly President Julian Robert Hunte soon after she fled to New York from Haiti.[2]

Michèle Montas
Spokesperson to the Secretary-General of the United Nations
In office
January 1, 2007 – January 1, 2010
Preceded byStéphane Dujarric de la Rivière
Succeeded byMartin Nesirky
Head of French UN Radio
Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly
In office
2003–2004
Personal details
Born1946
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
NationalityHaitian

Montas began her journalism career in Haiti in the early 1970s with her husband, Jean Dominique, also a Haitian journalist. Dominique's station, Radio Haiti-Inter, was attacked several times in the 1980s and 1990s, and the couple was forced to flee the country twice to briefly live in exile. Dominique was assassinated in April 2000 after broadcasting increasingly strident criticisms of Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party on his program. (Aristide was not in power at the time.) Montas took over the radio station, but shut it down in February 2003 and fled to New York after her bodyguard was gunned down in an attack on her home and she received several death threats.[3] Montas returned to Haiti in her role with MINUSTAH.

References
  1. Patrick Worsnip, "Dream job or snake pit? UN appoints new spokesman", Reuters, November 17, 2009
  2. "Pledging 'continuity with change,' Ban Ki-moon names chief of staff, spokesperson." UN News Centre December 31, 2006.
  3. "Ban's U.N. Spokeswoman Fled Haiti." Washington Post January 3, 2007.
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